Lia woke up momentarily startled that there was a huge body next to her.  She looked over and saw Dominic on his stomach with her cat, Lollipop curled up on his back.  She couldn’t help but smile as she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the adorable scene.  Lolli lifted her head and looked at Lia as if to say, “I was sleeping, hussy”.

Dominic began to stir.  He lifted his head, turned toward Lia and smiled.  She was beautiful, even with the crazy bedhead she was currently sporting.

“Well good morning, sleepyhead”, Lia said, running her hands through his hair.

“Morning, baby”, he said groggily. “Wait.  What’s on my back?”

Lia giggled.  “Lolli.  You know she loves sleeping on you.”

“I didn’t even know she was here.  I don’t remember seeing her last night”.

“She probably got scared.  We were pretty loud last night.  In fact, I’ll probably have a note from my neighbors on my door this morning”.

Dominic turned slowly onto his side in order to remove the cat from his back.  She meowed in protest but jumped off of him.  Lollipop walked over to Lia and put her paw onto her leg and meowed at her.

“She’s demanding food.  I’m gonna feed her and then take a shower”.

“Want some company?”  Dom asked wiggling his eyebrows.  “I’ll wash your back for you”.

“No sir.  If you join me in the shower no actual washing up will take place and I am too sore for that.  Besides, we did PLENTY of “that” last night”.  It was true.  Lia and Dominic made love three more times before they finally passed out from exhaustion.

“You’re no fun.  Alright, you go take your shower and I’ll feed Lolli and cook breakfast”.

“You cook??  I’ve never seen you cook before”, Lia said skeptically.

“Yes I cook, woman.  Just because you’ve never seen me do it doesn’t mean I can’t”.

“Will it be edible?”  Lia teased.

Dominic scowled at her.  He pulled her on top of him and smacked her ass.  “Go take your shower”.  Lia giggled and walked to the bathroom.

*******************************

When Lia finished her ablutions and walked out of the bathroom, she was met by the heady aroma of bacon.

“Mmmmm.  That’s smells SO good, babe.  What’s on deck?”

“The basic: bacon and eggs, fried potatoes, toast and coffee.  Typical diner fare”.

“Sounds good to me”.

“Well sit down and allow me to serve you, my dear”, Dominic said as he pulled out her chair with a flourish.

Lia giggled and sat down while Dom plated the food and brought it to table of the eat in kitchen.  They both tucked in and took a few bites before Dominic asked what she had planned for the day.

“Well, I figured we could drive to Beacon and check out the Dia Art Foundation’s museum.  I’ve never been there and I figured it’d be a nice little day trip”.

Dominic audibly groaned at the thought of going to some stuffy art museum.

“...or, you could always accompany Mimi and I while we shop on 5th avenue”.

“Art museum it is”,  Dominic said with a sigh. “As long as I can bring you home and make love to you, I’ll do whatever you want”.

“Yeeeaaaahhh...we have plans this evening”.

“Why do I feel like I’m not going to like these plans we have this evening?”

“I don’t know why.  It’s nothing too horrible, it’s just that Josiah, you remember me talking about him, right?”

“Your EX?”  Dom DEFINITELY didn’t like where this was headed.

“Well, we’ve mended our friendship and he wanted to take us out to dinner. He wanted to meet you and I didn’t think it’d be a huge deal”.  Lia could see Dominic struggling not to blow his stack.

“You want us to have dinner with your ex-fiance?”  he asked, his voice low and deep.  “Why would you think I’d be okay with that, Lia?”

“I didn’t”, Lia said before bursting out laughing.  “I just wanted to see how you’d react.  We’re not having dinner with my ex.  Who does THAT?”

“You little imp!  I had truly thought you’d lost your mind!  I should pull you over my knee and spank you!”  Dom said before a sly smile split his face. “I may still do just that later on tonight”.

Lia rolled her eyes and giggled.  “Well, no worries, we’re not having dinner with him.  We are, however having dinner with my family tonight.  I just told you the whole ‘dinner with the ex’ to show you that there was something far worse than meeting my family for the first time”.

Dominic looked up at the love of his life and chucked.  “Woman, YOU are diabolical”.

**********************************

Lia and Dominic got back from their trip to Beacon at around 4pm.  They had to be at her parents’ house at  7pm, so they decided to “save time” and share a shower.  Everything was going smoothly until helping each other wash their backs turned to kissing and kissing turned into Dominic licking and sucking Lia’s pussy until her legs felt like Jello that hadn’t set yet.  By the time they were ready to leave it was 6:30pm; they’d surely be late to dinner.  Lia called her mother to let her know that she and Dom would be late.

Once Lia finished her call to her mother, they headed off to Brooklyn.

*********************************

When Dominic and Lia arrived at her parents house, it was already filled with the noisy chatter of children either playing or crying, and adults arguing about sports, discussing school districts and recipes and the latest juicy gossip.  Lia loved that sound.  She loved the sound of family.

Lia’s mother, Giulia noticed the pair enter the home and rushed to greet them.  “Mia Bella!  How is my baby girl?”  she asked while showering her only daughter with kisses.  

“Mammaaaa…”,  Lia laughed.  “Stop kissing me and say hello to Dominic”.

“Ah! Dominic, cosi bello, such a handsome boy!”  The older woman said, grabbing his face and planting kisses on both cheeks.  “Come...come meet everyone”, she said, leading him into the livingroom where most of the family was located.

Dominic couldn’t help but smile at how sweet and affectionate Lia’s mother is.  “Like mother like daughter” he thought.  Even though Giulia was not Lia’s birth mother, they seemed to have some physical attributes in common.  They were both tiny little things.  He knew Lia was 5’3 so Giulia couldn’t be any taller than that.  Interestingly, they both had hazel eyes and both of their eyes were equally wide and expressive. And both women were gorgeous. Giulia had a round face with smooth skin that belied her age with lush, dark brown hair. She was 55, but could easily pass for someone 15 years younger, which is why she liked to announce her age whenever she had the opportunity.

Giulia started by introducing Dominic to Lia’s father Gabriele, who shook Dom’s hand but still gave him the “you’re going to have to prove you’re good enough for my daughter” glare.

Gabriele was a tall, lean man with black hair that was sprinkled with gray and piercing steel gray eyes and olive colored skin. He stood at about the same height as Dominic.  He was slight, but Dominic could tell that Gabriele Mariani was a formidable man.  Very alpha male without coming off as an alpha male.  Lia had once told him that he’d had that in common with her father and it was one of the things she liked most about him.  He didn’t understand what she meant by it at first, but after meeting her father, the statement made sense.

Next was Lia’s brother, Gianni.  At thirty-five, he was the oldest of the four Mariani children.  He was like his father in that he gave off the distinct “hurt my little sister and that might be the last thing you do” vibe.  Dominic knew that attitude well.  He felt the same when any boy came sniffing around his little sister, Nessa.  Despite that, Gianni welcomed him warmly.

Gianni was tall like his father, but he was more muscular.  He had his mother’s hazel eyes, brown hair and fair skin.  He was friendly, but Dominic could tell that he was probably the more staid of all the siblings.

“Good to finally meet you, Dominic”,  Gianni said with a smile and a handshake.  “I’d like you to meet my wife Tira”,  Gianni said gesturing to the tall, attractive dark skinned black woman walking over to join them.  “And those are our twin boys Michael and Daniel” he pointed to two identical boys with brown curly hair and honey colored skin, contentedly playing games on their tablets.  They couldn’t have been more than 8 years old.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dominic.  Lia talks about you all the time”, Tina said.

“Yeah, I encourage you to only believe about half of that”.  They were all laughing when Lia’s brother Giovanni joined the group.  

Giovanni was the spitting image of his father; tall with black hair and steel gray eyes.  He was muscular in a way that was similar to Dwayne Johnson.  He was outgoing and gregarious...a real charmer.  At 27,  he was a year older than Lia and the brother she was closest to.  He was also the brother she fought with the most.

“Dominic, it’s nice to meet the man brave enough to take on my bratty little sister”, He said as Lia joined the group. “You must be a real glutton for punishment, my friend”.  

“Shut your face, Gio”, Lia said, punching her brother in the arm.

“See how she is, Dominic?  And in front of company, too.  No home training”.

Unlucky for Giovanni, his mother heard his last comment.

“Gio, non farmi umilieremo di fronte all societa. Sai che lo faro”. (Gio, don’t make me embarrass you in front of company.  You know I’ll do it.)

“Mamma, mi dispiace” (Sorry, Mamma) Gio said, contrite in his apology.

“That’s what you get you big dummy”, Lia said, mocking her brother.

“Lia, don’t make fun of your brother”, Giulia said sharply.

“Yes, Mamma”.  Dominic smirked at Lia who promptly swatted him on his arm.

**************************

The Mariani’s were loud, passionate and hysterically funny.  They would be yelling at each other one minute and laughing with each other the next.  Dominic fit right in.  He argued with Gianni and Giovanni regarding soccer and football, and traded friendly barbs with her uncle Paolo.  He played with the kids and commiserated with her father about missing their respective homelands.  They also talked about Lia.

“I see that my daughter really loves you.  And I also see that you return that love two fold”.  Gabriele said, smiling softly.  “In my mind, no man will ever be worthy of mi principessa, but if SHE feels you are worthy, that’s good enough for me.  And know that from this day forward, you are part of mi famiglia.”  Gabriele patted Dominic on the back affectionately.  Lia watched the exchange with misty eyes.

Before the couple left for home, Dominic had a Men’s Day Out scheduled with Lia’s father and brothers. He’d get to meet her other brother Giuseppi, who was away on vacation with his family on the night of the dinner.  They were going to take in a Giants game and do other “man things”.  Lia was happy that Dom got along so well with her family.  She didn’t really doubt that he would, but you could never really assume how things would go.  When they finally left the house she was grinning from ear to ear.

“I really love your family, Li.  They’re crazy, but in the best possible way”.

Lia surprised him by wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him tightly.  He held her head to his chest and kissed her forehead.

“What was that for?  Not that I’m complaining?” Dominic asked with a chuckle.

“That was for being you, for loving my family.  For being my best friend and the love of my life, I’m so lucky to have you”.

“I’m the lucky one, Lia.  You’re a gift I don’t deserve, but I’ll be forever grateful that you were sent to me”.

Lia raised herself up on her tiptoes and placed a soft kiss on the lips of her future husband and father of her children.  She didn’t doubt for one second that she would be with Dominic MacCleod for the rest of her life.